Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE had a day of mixed fortunes yesterday as the Cheetahs progressed to the knockout stage of the ongoing Kenya Safari rugby 7s tournament, but they will be sweating over the fitness of talisman Edward Sigauke.
The day started brightly enough as Zimbabwe sealed their place in the quarter-finals after they made light work of Reunion, whom they beat 26-19 at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.
With the Kenya Morans beating Apace 28-10, it meant everything went according to script as the two group favourites secured their passage, having won their opening matches on Friday.
Zimbabwe began the tournament with a convincing 33-17 win over Apache on Friday, while Kenya’s developmental team, the Morans, beat Reunion 24-0.
It was during the group decider when everything fell off the hinges for the Cheetahs.
The Kenya Morans dominated Zimbabwe 27-7.
There was more to worry for the Cheetahs as their only try scorer in that game — Sigauke — limped off injured shortly before the break of what was a largely one-sided affair.
The win saw the Kenya Morans finishing top of the group, while Zimbabwe also progressed as runners-up.
It was the defeat to the Kenya Morans that will likely have given Cheetahs coach Ricky Chirengende a sleepless night.
Zimbabwe hardly looked like the side that started the tournament so brightly and booked their ticket to the next stage with a game to spare.
The tackling was horrendous; they let in some easy tries for the hosts and lost one of their most experienced players, Sigauke.
On reflection, Chirengende will probably note few positives to draw from the match.
“I think the day was okay and a bit mixed,” he said.
“We had to win the Reunion game to get into the play-offs and we did that. Against the Morans, I think if we had to lose a game in this tournament, it would have been that one.
“We had secured our quarter-final qualification and, for me, it was an opportunity to sort of refresh the bodies and give guys that didn’t get in a lot of minutes and some time on the park.
“It also allowed us the opportunity to save the legs of guys like Malenga (Tapiwa), Carlos (Matematema) and the others that have played a lot of minutes.
“I just wanted to just give them a bit of a break.”
Chirengende said he was keeping his eye on the big picture and remained satisfied that his team got the job done and qualified for the next round.
“Obviously, you want to win every game, but it’s (Morans game) not a bad one to lose really in the bigger scheme of things,” he said.
“We secured progression to the next round and now just have to make sure we bounce back tomorrow (today) morning.”
On Sigauke’s injury, he said:
“It’s still touch and go. He got a bit of a bump on his shin, so we’ll assess him overnight and see how he goes.
“Sigauke is obviously an important part of the team, so you could see even the try that we scored against Morans was scored by him on one-and-a-half legs.
“Hopefully, we can have him back for the knockouts.’’
